College football: Washington defeats BYU in Fight Hunger Bowl

College football: Washington defeats BYU in Fight Hunger Bowl

Huskies running back Bishop Sankey scores during the first half of the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/The Associated Press)

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Bishop Sankey ran for 95 yards and two scores to tie Washington’s career touchdown record and the Huskies went on to beat BYU 31-16 in the Fight Hunger Bowl on Friday night.

Keith Price added a 16-yard TD pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and John Ross returned a kick 100 yards for another score to help the Huskies (9-4) win their most games since going 11-1 and winning the Rose Bowl in 2000.

Taysom Hill threw for 293 yards and ran for 133 yards and a score for the Cougars (8-5), who had their four-game bowl winning streak snapped. Justin Sorensen kicked three field goals but also missed one in the third quarter after an interception by Robertson Daniel gave BYU prime field position.

The game capped a whirlwind month for the Huskies that began with coach Steve Sarkisian leaving for the same job at Southern California. Chris Petersen was hired away from Boise State to take over at Washington and quarterbacks coach Marques Tuiasosopo coached the bowl game on an interim basis. The Huskies won just their second bowl game since Tuiasosopo led them to that Rose Bowl win over Purdue 13 years ago.

The defense led the way this game, holding the Cougars to four field goal attempts and one touchdown on five drives inside the Huskies 30.

The game made history by being the first ever in the FBS with two female officials. Sarah Thomas was the line judge and Maia Chaka was the head linesman based on their work in Conference USA this season.

Syracuse (7-6) led 14-3 entering the fourth quarter before Mitch Leidner threw two touchdown passes and a 2-point conversion to put the Golden Gophers up 17-14.

After the Orange regained the lead, Minnesota attempted two long passes to the end zone on the final plays. The first slipped through Drew Wolitarsky’s arms and the second, as time expired, was knocked down near the end zone.

Minnesota (8-5) got a boost to start the second half when coach Jerry Kill returned to the sideline for the first time since Sept. 28 before Syracuse rallied for the victory.

Kill began the game in the press box, where he has observed his team since returning from a leave of absence because of his epilepsy. Kill has had five seizures on game day in his two-plus seasons with the Golden Gophers. He took the leave of absence in October and returned a couple of weeks later.

MILITARY BOWL

Marshall 31, Maryland 20

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Rakeem Cato threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns, and Marshall used two fourth-quarter scores to beat Maryland in the Military Bowl.

The Thundering Herd (10-4) trailed 20-17 before Cato brought them back. After directing a 63-yard march to put Marshall up 24-20 with 12:05 left, Cato clinched it with an 8-yard touchdown throw to Gator Hoskins with 3:42 to play. Cato completed 28 of 44 passes — with no interceptions — to help Marshall reach double digits in wins for the first time since 2002.

Maryland (7-6) scored only one touchdown after halftime, and A.J. Leggett followed Cato’s final TD pass with an interception to set off a celebration among the huge gathering of Marshall fans among the crowd of 30,163. Brandon Ross rushed for 116 yards for Maryland, and C.J. Brown went 14 for 24 for 197 yards.